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The Netherlands presents world's 
second roadmap away from fossil fuels

In last week’s newsletter, we described the uncertainty ahead of the Netherlands’ Budget Day: would the country stick to the fossil fuel transition it championed at the Santa Marta conference, or follow Colombia in changing course?

For many, Tuesday’s announcement came as a relief. The Netherlands presented ”a national roadmap” to phase out its dependence on fossil fuels, becoming the second country after France to take such a step. The plan puts electrification, renewable energy and energy security at its heart.

But environmental groups are not overwhelmed. The roadmap sets no binding date for ending oil and gas use, and fossil fuels are expected to remain in the Dutch energy system for years to come.

So how ambitious is the plan really? Read the full story.

Von der Leyen: ”Europe will stay 
the course on our climate targets”

Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union speech was broadcast live on the W Social.

Europe must “double down” on homegrown clean energy and accelerate electrification to cut its dependence on imported fossil fuels. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made that clear in her State of the Union speech, broadcast live on W Social on September 16.

Following the hottest August on record globally, von der Leyen pledged to keep Europe on course towards its climate targets, arguing that clean energy is increasingly about security, competitiveness and independence.

”Our goal is to double the share of electricity by 2040. With this, Europe could cut its fossil fuel import bills by €260 billion per year,” she said.

Von der Leyen also called for closer cooperation with Canada on climate and AI, and opened the door ”for Canada to become the first associate member of the European Union.”

This did not go down well with US President Donald Trump. Full story below. 

Climate communication needs to change.
In New York, we’ll explore how.

Johan Rockström will join the international launch of Planetary Communications. Photo from previous event. 

Our team is arriving in New York today, as Climate Week NYC gets underway. But we couldn’t wait, so we kicked things off yesterday with a live broadcast from the Peace Day Concert in Times Square.

This year, we’re putting a special focus on one of the climate movement’s biggest challenges: communication. On our stage, we’ll launch two brand-new reports exploring how better climate communication can help accelerate climate action. Make sure you don’t miss these two sessions: